Chapter 6: Recovery

Watchtower

July 7, 08:40

Beep. Beep. Beep.

It was a regular beat, one that Colin took comfort in, as he watched the green line that was Ethan's heartbeat travel across the monitor. The blood transfusion was complete, but it would take a while for him to wake up. He was clearly worse for wear though, even now. His face was patterned with bruises and he had a few cuts. Nothing superficial; that was left for below the neck, where presumably permanent scars ran deep.

Colin was so lost in his thoughts that he barely noticed when the hand on his shoulder appeared. Turning, he saw Kinako take a seat next to him. "You okay?" she asked, observing Ethan.

"Yeah," he started to say, but he saw Kinako's piercing glare and relented, "Alright, no I'm not. Call it survivor's guilt or something, I don't know." He paused, looking behind his shoulder with caution, before continuing. "It's just that…I got played. And I know it sounds stupid-"

"It does."

"Thanks. I know it sounds stupid but…I've got a legacy to live up to. I know the others are sidekicks or kids or stuff but they haven't got the symbol of the greatest hero on the planet on their chest." He breathed out slowly. "Sorry. I don't stress out normally."

Kinako gave him a reassuring look, "I know about being given a responsibility you feel you can't handle, believe me." She instinctively touched the gem hanging around her neck. "It's not going to go away. You're stuck with it until you die but that doesn't mean you have to be the same as the guy who came before. We're teenagers. We have a lot to learn."

Colin smiled appreciatively, but the doubt was still there. Kinako was right, but looking at Ethan's bruised and bloodied figure sent guilt racking through his body. He could stay there for the rest of the day, torturing himself, but he was interrupted by the communicator buzzing. Looking at Kinako, he switched it on.

"You guys might want to come down to the hold," came Jackson's panicked voice, "Our villain of the week's bugging out."

oOo

Lacey Stewart hadn't had the best life. In fact most of it was pretty crap until the ring chose her. To say she came from a broken home was putting it mildly. Her dad didn't know she existed and her mum…well, she'd have been better off alone than with her. She didn't let it break her though, and the love in her heart drew the ring of the Star Sapphire to her. She was a good person who'd never hurt innocents. Which is why it was shocking when she woke up in a cell with half the Justice League looking down on her.

"Where am I?!" she asked, panicking. Panic made her ring glow brighter, which wasn't helping her case.

"It's okay," said the woman in the red archer costume, "Everything's okay. You're in here for your own safety."

"Mostly ours though," remarked a girl around the same age as Lacey, before an older guy nudged her in the shoulder.

"Wha...what's going on? I don't know who any of you are." She looked down to see a green glow run through her veins dimly. "What's this?"

"It's a chemical compound. Seems to put people in a hypnotic state," said the one person she did recognise, Black Canary, who was reading the information off of a tablet by the looks of it. "Whatever the gap in your memory is, I'm afraid you were manipulated by somebody to carry out a crime."

Lacey could feel her heart start to quicken in pace. "I..who…I don't know anything about this. Last thing I remember is…leaving school." Somebody must have jumped her. Given her something. Told her to do god knows what. "What was the crime?"

Everyone shared an uneasy glance, none wanting to tell, until the girl decided to just say it. "Attempted assassination of G. Gordon Godfrey. Bit of a-"

"Douche," Lacey overlapped. A slight bit of colour returned to her face. She could have almost killed someone nice instead so it lessened the blow.

Even Black Canary smiled for a moment before returning to professionalism. "We'll hold you here until the drug's completely left your system. Your school has been notified with a cover story."

Lacey just nodded, before using her ring to transform back from her costume into her much more comfortable sweater and leggings. Who would want to use her and, more importantly, how did they know who she was?

oOo

Jackson, Zack and Kat were chilling on the couches, watching (or just listening) to the television. "So, rundown of the day," announced Kat, "Out first mission was a success, but we're also going to be invaded by aliens." Zack coughed. "Or villains from another dimension. Oh, and TV personality of the year is one of them. I miss anything?"

"Green Lantern has an illegitimate daughter," Jackson added, as he played catch with a throwing disc.

"Ah yes, how could I forget?" she nodded.

"Bright side," Zack said, holding up some broken glasses, "Souvenir. Godfrey must have dropped them in the rush."

"The souvenirs take over like half the watchtower. We're talking twenty years of history man." Jackson joked, laughing.

oOo

Gotham City

July 7, 23:16

Watching the squad car take Tetch away made the night that much safer, thought Dick as he glided over to the Batmobile. He really needed to call Kat back into the field, but he'd let her acclimatise to the Team first. Never mind Ethan – he'd been in to visit but he was interrupted by the latest Alice in Wonderland-related kidnappings. That didn't help Tetch's bone structure.

"Batman," said Barbara over the comms. "You can't come home yet."

"Yeah, I thought not," he joked, "What is it?"

"Gotham Docks, body's been washed up on the shore."

"You wouldn't be telling me if it wasn't unusual."

"You want unusual?" replied Barbara, any sense of humour lost. "It's the Joker."

A/N: Back again with a new chapter! Bit of a calmer one, but we need story development chapters too. Hope you all enjoyed your holidays and let's hope 2017 is better for everyone!

To answer Beastdragons2187 – My plan is to keep the team number to eight, just so everyone gets a spotlight. So chances are no slots will be open for a while. Anti-hero is open though.

Until next time!